As his words fell, Jian Xingzhi immediately sank into the bathtub. A disciple kicked open the door, entering at just the right moment. Seeing Qin Wanwan’s shadow on the screen, he asked anxiously: “Senior martial sister, what happened?”
“It’s nothing,” Qin Wanwan snapped back to her senses, controlling her heartbeat. Looking at the mud and hair scattered in the bathtub, she gripped the edge of the tub and spoke through gritted teeth: “A bug startled me. You can go now—I’m bathing.”
The disciple acknowledged and withdrew. The moment they left, the person in the bathtub immediately surfaced.
He closed his eyes. His face, slightly washed clean, revealed handsome bone structure.
“You wash first. I’ll wash after. We’ll talk after washing.”
He was completely unceremonious, speaking extremely fast. With eyes closed, he braced himself against the bathtub and flipped out, then stumbled and fell to the ground.
“Why are you electrocuting me again!”
Jian Xingzhi lay on the ground, angrily cursing: “Are you seeking death?!”
“S-sorry…” 666 trembled. “No male companion has such agile movements… so the mainframe detected…”
Jian Xingzhi understood. He took a deep breath and didn’t fuss about it. He got up from the ground and walked sullenly toward the screen.
Seeing him get up with water and mud mixed together, Qin Wanwan was frightened and quickly reminded him: “Just sit on the floor—don’t sit on the bed.”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi understood she found him dirty. Too lazy to get angry with someone at Foundation Establishment stage, he simply sat down leaning against the screen, closed his eyes, and began resting.
“Master,” 666 spoke carefully, “I detect your heart rate is slightly elevated. Do you need any assistance?”
“Shut up,” Jian Xingzhi leaned against the screen with eyes closed. “Mind your own business!”
Jian Xingzhi left the bathtub so decisively, as if she were a man. Qin Wanwan didn’t know whether to be annoyed or relieved.
She calmed down, finally deciding to accept things as they came and not overthink. Sitting in the bathtub, she formed an immortal seal and changed the water. Seeing the water become clean, she finally felt more comfortable. She breathed a sigh of relief and washed again.
As she washed, she couldn’t help but glance toward where Jian Zhiyan sat. The young man’s solitary shadow on the screen was quite attractive—even while resting, his posture was upright and straight, like bamboo, like pine.
Why did he come back?
How did he come back?
Qin Wanwan was somewhat puzzled.
But thinking briefly about the previous life, it wasn’t strange.
In the previous life, when Qin Wan fell into disgrace and turned demonic, with all under heaven wanting to punish her, this Jian Zhiyan never abandoned her. It seemed he truly had unwavering deep feelings for Qin Wan. What a pity.
Qin Wanwan sighed. Fate played tricks on people. Jian Zhiyan couldn’t have imagined that the person he loved had long left this world.
She wasn’t the Qin Wan he loved. She had no intention of exploiting his feelings and didn’t want to be burdened by him.
Originally she planned to go down the mountain to find him, secretly settle him somewhere and be done with it. But now seeing Jian Zhiyan’s deep affection and loyalty, she felt she needed to give him closure on Qin Wan’s behalf.
Qin Wanwan’s mind wandered as she carefully washed herself clean. After roughly planning out a breakup approach, she finally stood up, changed clothes, and walked out from behind the screen to see ‘Jian Zhiyan’ already asleep leaning against the screen.
Water and mud mixed together hung on him. His entire person looked like a mud figure, yet he didn’t care at all, sleeping peacefully.
Qin Wanwan frowned and quickly called to him: “Jian Zhiyan.”
He didn’t respond. Qin Wanwan took a peach blossom from a nearby vase and carefully poked him: “Jian Zhiyan!”
“Are your clothes on?”
Jian Xingzhi had awakened long ago but never opened his eyes. Qin Wanwan froze, not expecting him to ask this. She responded in confusion: “They’re on.”
“Good.”
Jian Xingzhi opened his eyes. His instinct was to jump up, but remembering 666’s words, he halted his movement. After hesitating a moment, recalling the female immortals he’d seen before, he drew in his legs and crouched on the ground. One hand braced beside him, he first raised his hips, hips leading waist, waist leading upper body, looking exactly like a coy plant growing upward, then step by step moved into the bathroom.
This series of movements was unbearable to watch, but Jian Xingzhi clearly saw the display screen before him showing “Character Role +2, Total Score -998.”
“Heh,” Jian Xingzhi domineeringly flung his clothes behind the screen. “Nothing to it.”
Immediately the display showed “Character Role -2, Total Score -1000.”
Jian Xingzhi: “…”
Qin Wanwan watched ‘Jian Zhiyan’ stand up section by section like the female ghost from “Ju-On,” moving slowly into the room like a zombie, then saw his silhouette on the screen fling his clothes with a “swoosh.”
This series of split movements left her dumbfounded. After recovering for a moment, she couldn’t help but sigh: “What kind of taste did Qin Wan have?”
With this appearance and personality, he could be a male companion?
Were male companion standards this low?
But criticism aside, this was after all a loyal male companion. She was about to hurt his feelings, so she still needed to treat him well.
So she cleaned the room, then rummaged out clothes Jian Zhiyan had worn before, along with bath towels she’d specially ordered prepared for him, throwing them all over the screen and instructing the person inside: “The white cloth is for drying. The clothes are beside it.”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi glanced sideways at the bath towel, then saw the prompter showing:
(Respectfully): Thank you, Master.
He laughed disdainfully but still casually called out to Qin Wanwan outside: “Thanks.”
Qin Wanwan found nothing abnormal. In fact, she had no concept of what ‘Jian Zhiyan’ should be like.
She sat in a chair waiting for ‘Jian Zhiyan,’ thinking about how to broach the topic. Across the screen, she heard the sound of water inside. Thinking it over, meeting face-to-face would be more awkward than not meeting—she might as well speak now.
She didn’t have the courage to jump directly to the main point, so she started with casual matters: “That day I saw Young Master Jun strike ruthlessly and thought you probably…”
“You thought I died?” Jian Xingzhi felt somewhat proud, glancing outside. “Surprised?”
“No, no,” hearing the voice inside, Qin Wanwan’s heart trembled. She didn’t know why, but felt somewhat short of breath. She quickly changed to a question that showed she cared about him: “Do you still have any injuries that haven’t healed?”
“No,” Jian Xingzhi scrubbed at the mud, answering carelessly. “All minor injuries.”
As soon as he spoke, electric current crackled through. Jian Xingzhi gripped the bath towel, restraining his urge to hit someone, glancing at 666 trembling in his consciousness sea.
Hearing this, Qin Wanwan was somewhat puzzled: “You were beaten like that and recovered in two days?”
Jian Xingzhi paused. He looked up at the prompter ahead—there was nothing on it. The system probably couldn’t cover for this either.
He thought for a moment, answering hesitantly: “I have a good constitution?”
No electric shock—the problem seemed minor.
This statement was somewhat hard for Qin Wanwan to believe, but considering that in the previous life this mortal could survive bouncing around until the end and even block a sword for Qin Wan, he probably had some special talents.
Qin Wanwan reluctantly accepted this answer and asked again: “I heard you were thrown down the mountain. As a mortal without cultivation, how did you get back up?”
“I…” Jian Xingzhi heard Qin Wanwan’s phrasing and glanced out the window. Belatedly realizing that a mortal digging through to Wenxin Sect in one day was indeed somewhat exaggerated, he still brazened it out, feigning nonchalance: “I dug a tunnel.”
“A… tunnel?” Qin Wanwan was shocked, disbelieving. “You dug a tunnel from the mountain base all the way here?!”
Jian Xingzhi didn’t dare say more, stiffly responding: “Ah, yes, a tunnel.”
Qin Wanwan instinctively asked: “How did you do it?”
Jian Xingzhi was in a difficult position: “Just…” He wiped his body, somewhat guilty. “Good constitution, I guess.”
This constitution… was really too good.
Qin Wanwan was somewhat dazed. Jian Xingzhi also felt this answer was quite absurd. He turned the tables and began questioning: “What are your plans going forward?”
“Huh?”
“Planning to stay on the mountain for a lifetime?”
“That’s impossible.” Qin Wanwan answered decisively. Jian Xingzhi nodded with satisfaction, feeling this woman wasn’t completely foolish.
“Good. Then my effort coming to rescue you wasn’t wasted.” Jian Xingzhi rose from the water. Hearing this, Qin Wanwan finally remembered what she needed to say.
She deliberated: “Zhiyan, there are some things I must tell you in advance.”
“Speak.”
“I’m no longer who I used to be. Going forward, I may live a very different life.”
“That’s good.” Jian Xingzhi dried himself and began putting on clothes.
How pathetic Qin Wan was before—just looking at her was frustrating.
“I may go to very distant places, embark on new journeys, encounter many dangers, many difficulties.”
“Not bad.”
After figuring out how to put on these flamboyant clothes, Jian Xingzhi began putting them on.
At this moment, he finally gained some respect for this young woman. Knowing the path of cultivation was arduous and dangerous yet not fearing hardship—she could be molded into something.
“I hope you can live this life like an ordinary person. Right now I’m a prisoner, with my master’s tracking curse on me, unable to go anywhere…”
Getting to the crucial point, Qin Wanwan was extremely nervous. She lowered her head, gripping the hem of her robe on her knees, encouraging herself.
She rarely did such hurtful things, but for both their happiness, she had to make things clear.
“Since you could come in, naturally you can leave. I’ll give you your contract of sale now, along with some gold, silver, and jewels. In a moment, just crawl out through the tunnel…”
As she spoke, she heard him emerge from behind the screen. She kept her head buried, clutching her clothes, not daring to look up at all.
She continued speaking while hearing him approach. Before she could say “From now on, we’ll each go our separate ways with no connection,” someone gripped her chin and made her raise her head.
“What did you just say?”
Before her eyes were the young man’s handsome, delicate features. He wore a silk wide-sleeved robe with wisteria flowers as the base color, sleeves outlined with white magnolia, white inner garment—matching his skin tone nearly like mutton-fat jade, carrying an elegant beauty.
But his temperament was clear and bright, his gaze limpid. His features immediately appeared handsome and distinguished without the slightest feminine air.
At first glance, he was fresh as a pine beneath the mountains, clear as spring wind through ravines.
One hand lightly gripped her chin while the other hung unconsciously at his side. His brows slightly furrowed, as if displeased.
“That old turtle Shen Zhiming dared to put a tracking curse on you?”
Qin Wanwan couldn’t speak.
She didn’t know if it was the contrast from before and after, but looking at this face, Qin Wanwan was thoroughly stunned, her eyes staring blankly at him.
Jian Xingzhi was accustomed to such gazes and didn’t notice anything unusual. After examining Qin Wanwan up and down and figuring out what that sword intent and tracking curse in her body were, he felt relieved. He released her chin, walked to the side, picked up the teapot to pour himself tea, full of confidence: “Don’t worry, I…”
Before finishing, electric current crackled through. Jian Xingzhi’s smile instantly twisted. Facing Qin Wanwan’s puzzled gaze, he gripped the teapot, looked at the script on the prompter, and spoke through gritted teeth: “I think you definitely have a solution!”